According to recent polls, Congress is on track to record the lowest annual approval rating in Gallup polling history. The most recent Gallup monthly poll shows Congress having an approval rating of just 13 percent.

Last month, however, a New York Times/CBS poll showed Congress’ approval rating dipping into the single digits–bottoming out at a lowly nine percent.

Colorado Senator Michael Bennet took to the Senate floor this week to discuss these findings with his colleagues. Fortunately, Senator Bennet came prepared with a chart that listed an array of extremely unpopular people, things, and ideas in comparison to Congress’ current rating.

According to Senator Bennet, here are some things that are more popular than the U.S. Congress:

–The IRS has an approval rating of 40 percent.

–Nixon during the Watergate investigation had an approval rating of 24 percent.

–Paris Hilton managed a 15 percent approval rating.

–BP during the oil spill crisis had a 16 percent approval rating.

–More people liked the idea of the U.S. going Communist at 11 percent.

And who’s tied for last place in Senator Bennet’s chart? Hugo Chavez also has a nine percent approval rating… in America.

The good news for Congress is that there’s still a month and a half left in the year to raise that rating all the way into double digits. The bad news is that, in spite of this especially low approval rating, Congress insists on spending their time on projects like counting tomato paste in pizza as a sufficient portion of vegetables for elementary school lunches.